Josh Hart is happy to have Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks as teammates on the New York Knicks. Naturally, following the deadline trade that sent both sharpshooters to the Knicks from the Detroit Pistons, Hart had an amusing reaction to the deal.
Knicks: Josh Hart fills Bojan Bogdanovic in on Knicks’ culture with friendly warning
As Fred Katz of The Athletic revealed, Hart sent out a warning of sorts to Bogdanovic, saying:
“(Burks) knows what to expect,” Hart said of his former teammate. “Bojan — hoooo, that boy in for it.”
Hart is clearly referencing Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau’s hard-nosed style of coaching. Notorious for not only playing his main rotation heavy minutes, Thibodeau is also known for holding intense practices and demanding maximum energy expenditure from his players.
Though he’s relaxed in his tenure with the Knicks, Thibodeau will give Bogdanovic opportunities to thrive while pushing him to strive toward playing the best basketball of his career, even if a lot of proverbial blood, sweat, and tears is involved.
Aside from his brief stint in Detroit, Bogdanovic is accustomed to playing on playoff teams with serious championship hopes. His days with the Utah Jazz and Brooklyn Nets before them have equipped Bogdanovic with experience in how contending teams operate.
How will Bogdanovic jibe with Hart & Thibodeau on the Knicks
Playful warning shots aside, Bogdanovic will give Hart a reliable three-point marksman that the Villanova product can kick to when pushing the Knicks’ offense up the floor in transition.
Bogdanovic is connecting on 41.5 percent of his looks from outside and is enjoying his third season averaging 20-plus points per game (20.2 PPG) in his last five years.
Bogdanovic is just the player that Hart and the Knicks need, and his expected high-level play may cause coach “Thibs” to ease up on him if he keeps getting buckets at the rate he’s going.